BUSINESSES in Worcester are hoping to make up for a severe drop in trade after the snow and ice kept customers away.

The city is “very much open for business” according to Worcester BID despite the biggest snowfall in years.

Residents who would’ve been out and about doing their Christmas shopping found themselves snowed in on Sunday and Monday, meaning footfall was down at many city centre shops.

Gurinder Singh, owner of independent clothing shop Extreme, said trade has been “terrible”.

“We’ve made nothing for two days,” he told the Worcester News yesterday. “Yesterday we had six customers. Everything was at a standstill, with all the buses – nobody could come."

“Hopefully, now things will be back to normal,” he added.

Mr Singh, who opened the shop eight weeks ago, said his business made record low sales on Monday, taking just £78, compared to the same day last week when he made £500.

He said the shop opened at 10am on Monday but the first customer didn’t come in until 12.20pm, so he closed early – and it was a similar story with other independent traders.

Baby clothing shop Me and My Friend in Reindeer Court was completely closed on Sunday and Monday.

Ali Raza, who works at Mobile Doctor on the High Street, said: “We’ve been badly affected – nobody is coming. We were expecting Christmas to start but it is completely dead. Compared to last year, it’s been completely dead.”

Marcus Mills, owner of Worcester Guitar Centre, also in Reindeer Court, said only one of his 11 guitar lesson students over Sunday and Monday were able to make it, adding: “It’s been pretty bad.”

Wayne Craft, owner of pop-up shop Touch of Christmas, said: “All of the shops were closing early.

“A lot of people have not been coming in [on Sunday and Monday] but Saturday was the same. In fact, there were more people on Sunday than yesterday.”

He said people have been out on the streets but “they weren’t coming to shop, they were just coming out to enjoy the snow.”

Mr Craft, who has run the pop-up – which trades from early November to December 24 – for several years, said many of the bigger High Street names, like Next, were not open at all in Worcester.

A spokesman for Worcester BID said: “The roads and pavements have been gritted and city council has been working really hard on this."

However, one Reindeer Court trader complained that “none of the side streets have been gritted so no one can walk anywhere”.

A county council spokeswoman said Reindeer Court is private land and so would not be the responsibility of the council to ensure it is gritted.

Giles Loveday, property manager for Reindeer Court, said he did not wish to make a comment.

The BID spokesman added: “We have this morning [Tuesday] seen a number of families in the city centre cafes enjoying coffees and brunch – bringing children with them too as the schools are closed.”

A spokesperson for Crowngate shopping centre said all of its stores were open on Tuesday other than Flowers of Worcester which is “closed today as it is located mainly outside and the flowers won’t survive the cold temperatures”.

The main shopping centre car park is open and currently has capacity for around 500 cars.